Early Years
John Franklin Candy was born on October 31, 1950 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada to Sidney and Evangeline Candy. He was the younger of two sons and John's father died relatively young of a heart attack. He attended the Neil McNeil Catholic High School in Toronto where he was raised and played Canadian football. He was a Catholic.
Movie Career
1970's
His first movie role was an uncredited movie role in the movie Class of '44 in 1973. As well as another role alongside Rick Moranis.
1980's
His movie career took of in the 1980s being in such movies as Splash, The Blues Brothers, Who's Harry Crumb?, Uncle Buck, Planes Trains & Automobiles (with Steve Martin) and Brewster's Millions alongside Richard Pryor. The most notable here is probably Planes, Trains & Automobiles. The movie is about Neal Page (Steve Martin) trying to get home for Thanksgiving, but he ends up going cross country via plane, train and automobile (hence the title of the movie). Del Griffith (John Candy) is the man who helps Neal get home. They first meet when Del "steals" Neal's cab that he paid a lawyer for (Neal is trying to get a flight home to Wichita and needs to get a cab to the airport and he pays a lawyer to allow him to use this cab to get the airport for the seven o' clock flight.) The movie is listed on Roger Ebert's top ten and has mostly positive reviews and a 90%+ on rotten tomatoes.
1990's
His career seemed to take a nose dive in the early 1990s with failures such as Once Upon A Crime and Delirious, as well as his animated TV Show Camp Candy, featuring the voices of his two children, which was cancelled. However, he took on some serious roles in JFK, Cool Runnings and Only The Lonely for which he got positive reviews. In 1991 he became a co owner of Toronto Argonauts, alongside with Wayne Gretzky and Bruce McNall. The celebrity ownership garnered media attention. The teams money resulted in them buying highly touted National Football League players. He was also in the satirical movie, Canadian Bacon; the ending of which was changed by Michael Moore following Candy's death.
Death
John Candy was in Durango, Mexico filming the comedy/western movie Wagons East!; which turned out to be his last. John had a predisposition to heart disease - his father died at thirty five - and was told numerous times by his doctor to cut his weight at which Candy refused for the reason that he felt he got his movie roles based on his build/frame. He did cancel an appearance on a show due to the advertisement making fun of him based on his weight which suggests he was self conscious. John died on March 4, 1994 due to a heart attack while sleeping. Doctors found that the heart attack had been the result of a blockage of his coronary arteries; although recently John had been losing weight and quit smoking - unfortunately it was too late.
He was interred at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California and was survived by his widow, Rosemary Margaret Hoban who he married in 1979 and their two children, Christopher and Jennifer. His funeral Mass was held at St. Michael's Cathedral, Toronto and was broadcast live across Canada. As for his last movie role, Wagons East, it was thought to be the worst movie he ever made and an unworthy end to his career.
FILMOGRAPHY
Class of '44 (1973)
It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time (1975)
Tunnel Vision (1976)
The Clown Murders (1976)
Find the Lady (1976)
The Silent Partner (1978)
Lost and Found (1979)
1941 (1979)
Double Negative (1980)
The Blues Brothers (1980)
Stripes (1981)
Heavy Metal (1981) (voice)
It Came from Hollywood (1982) (documentary)
National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)
Going Berserk (1983)
Splash (1984)
The Last Polka (1984)
Brewster's Millions (1985)
Follow That Bird (1985)
Summer Rental (1985)
Volunteers (1985)
Tears Are Not Enough (1985) (documentary)
Armed and Dangerous (1986)
Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
Spaceballs (1987)
Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
She's Having a Baby (1988) (Cameo)
The Great Outdoors (1988)
Hot to Trot (1988) (voice only)
Who's Harry Crumb? (1989) (also executive producer)
Speed Zone! (1989)
Uncle Buck (1989)
Masters of Menace (1990) (Cameo)
Home Alone (1990)
The Rescuers Down Under (1990) (voice)
Nothing But Trouble (1991)
Career Opportunities (1991)
Only the Lonely (1991)
Delirious (1991)
JFK (1991)
Once Upon a Crime... (1992)
Boris and Natasha (1992)
Rookie of the Year (1993)
Cool Runnings (1993)
Wagons East! (1994)
Canadian Bacon (1995)
The Magic 7 (voice was recorded in the 1990s) (2006)
Note: The filmography is taken from wikipedia. Please click
here to read the wikipedia article on John Candy.
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Early Years
John Franklin Candy was born on October 31, 1950 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada to Sidney and Evangeline Candy. He was the younger of two sons and John's father died relatively young of a heart attack. He attended the Neil McNeil Catholic High School in Toronto where he was raised and played Canadian football. He was a Catholic.
Movie Career
1970's
His first movie role was an uncredited movie role in the movie Class of '44 in 1973. As well as another role alongside Rick Moranis.
1980's
His movie career took of in the 1980s being in such movies as Splash, The Blues Brothers, Who's Harry Crumb?, Uncle Buck, Planes Trains & Automobiles (with Steve Martin) and Brewster's Millions alongside Richard Pryor. The most notable here is probably Planes, Trains & Automobiles. The movie is about Neal Page (Steve Martin) trying to get home for Thanksgiving, but he ends up going cross country via plane, train and automobile (hence the title of the movie). Del Griffith (John Candy) is the man
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